Chris Jones has known the Riders starting QB ‘for two weeks’

Saskatchewan Roughriders head coach Chris Jones says he decided on his starting quarterback 14 days ago.

“I’ve known for two weeks how we’re going to play, but I ain’t telling y’all until we get ready to play. Why would I give something like that up to our opponent where they can know exactly what we’re going to do? It doesn’t make good sense, right?” Jones said.

Jones insisted since the Riders acquired Zach Collaros in January that there would be a competition for the No. 1 quarterback spot in Saskatchewan between Collaros and Canadian Brandon Bridge. Which he reiterated prior to the green and white’s final pre-season game, but that two-week timeline means Jones made his mind up well before the last exhibition game.

“I know how we’re going to play, our quarterbacks know how we’re going to play, and you’ll find out when we play the game exactly how they play,” Jones said.

“I don’t understand why that’s such a big deal. I told them this morning, I talked to the quarterbacks, it’s not that big of deal to me I treat them just like I do anybody else. I don’t see what the big deal is. They know exactly how we’re going to play. That’s just the way we’re going to do it.”

124 Comments on Chris Jones has known the Riders starting QB ‘for two weeks’

I think Chris Jones needs to go back to the X and o part of football. He is a terrible manager. This time last week Collaros and Bridge were supposed to share duties against Calgary to determine the job, now he claims he’s known for 2 weeks- this guy makes stuff up worse than Trump!!
If he really knows, why doesn’t he say? – Don’t tell me it’s to keep the opponent guessing because he tried this same stuff last year and whoever did end up with the start was usually pulled by the half.
This is amateur hour at it’s best.
FYI rider fans, championship caliber teams to not do these types of things.

Shouldn’t you be out with those two wh0re$ you spoke of yesterday? Hell let’s meet and tag team them bro! Anyone you know must be a degenerate and game for it. Don’t waste Red! Lets get some! I’ll even pay! Call those girlies up

Oh so it’s okay for you to talk about other people’s families but I can’t talk about your sad a$$ family? F*ck you Red. Can’t take your own medicine then you shouldn’t have brought other people’s families into your mouth. You little b*tch.

Are you kidding us Red? When Durant retired $70K richer you made numerous comments about his newborn daughter. And as someone else has mentioned you also disrespected the Broncos families. Are you this blind? I mean come on man. You think I just make this stuff up? It’s the first thing I thought of when you mentioned how you never talk families, YOU ABSOLUTELY DID!

Red, You said Durant quit on Rider nation. Will he quit on his daughter? That’s just a dumb comment. Read your comments before you press enter. An apology here and there when you’ve crossed the line wouldn’t hurt either.

Red, you’ve disrespected the Humboldt Broncos and their families many times with tour passively negative comments. You were also a complete Ahole about Durants daughter. That’s two that I can think of.

Randle, Red is a piece of shitt but tour comments are also over the top. Don’t stoop to his level, you’ll never come back to a respectable one.

1. No chance I’m wasting my time to scroll through 500 articles to find what I already know. Unlike you I do not make things up.
2. If you don’t remember I am not surprised. How could you possibly commit to memory (of any one of your personalities memories) all of the assinine comments you have made?

True Green, I’ve known a few compulsive liars in my time and the big thing about them is they can’t differentiate between their lies and the truth. That’s why he can’t remember saying it cause he is constantly BSing and lying. Not even joking here.

This site has almost suffered Death by Troll several times. It takes them a long time but they eventually get around to banning him, and then he comes back. He’s mentally ill and I wonder if they’re afraid he’ll commit suicide. He spends all day every day on this site, hundreds and hundreds of hours, and I’m sure he’s made thousands of posts at this point, and in every one of them he’s trolling.

If folks don’t know who the Riders starter will be it’s likely because the Riders haven’t seem to grasped that Zach Collaros and Bridge both needed to get their games together pre-season versus wait until the season starts. Not a way to bring a new QB in – especially a talented guy who went in the tank and hasn’t won in 12 prior games or so.

WTF is the post about leaving the site about? Nothing wrong with the story nor the post above his. The facts are that it took some time for the Riders to get on a roll last year and it’s looking like similar this year.

I have the same criticism of June Jones in not ensuring Masoli was playing well before sitting him for game 1.

Tom Brady is listed as questionable every single week and having a coach keep his mouth shut in the CFL is no different. To the Stamps fan who always posts first, I think you should revisit your life priorities man….you’re a joke and ruining this otherwise decent web blog.

LOL is your best response? It’s the exact situation. NFL coaches never say jacksh*t about their game plans or the players starting. It’s only different because you cannot comprehend it? Please explain how it is different? Or is it just because it’s Chris Jones you refuse to agree? Got it.

The opposing team maybe. You don’t really understand planning do you? Much like your terribly thought out rebuttals on here, you make zero sense of what’s presented in front of you. What’s your highest level of education old ball, high school? Haha.

He was making well over $500,000 last year and he was sitting on the bench in Hamilton. But clearly you must feel that was a mistake. He was making a lot more money than Masoli so therefore he should have been starting. Training camps are just a waste of time. They should just give the jobs to the players who make the most money. Right?

The only reason he wasn’t starting was because he was so bad. If he ends up not starting for you, it’s because he’s equally bad. I’m not sure why riders fans what to argue on this so much. Do you want Bridge to start and for Collaros to be a bust???

Collarus is trying to resurrect his career so instead of getting him comfortable with the starters, Jones spends the entire TC evaluating, hardly plays Collarus and when he does it is with backups. Not a great way to rebuild confidence in his QB. But maybe it was part of Jones’ plan to get his opponents to think he won’t even start Collarus in the first game.

Holy jeebus, I’ve just found this website this week and I’ll admit I’m a Stamps fan. I like
Chris Jones, he’s a winner and I respect him. Sure I want my Stamps to always win against him but I can’t argue his career in football as it’s better than all of ours. Good luck all in the season!

I do want to mention; what the hell Sun Always Shines? Lol, you do realize there’s a shady side at McMahon right? You seem quite hated and judging by your immature and uninformed posts I can see why!! Hell,
I’d punch you in the face if I had the chance just to have free drinks and hot dogs from Riders Fans! Haha. Section, row and seat number if you have the cahones!

Chris: nice to have a good Stamps fan here. There are quite a few of you. Only Red is the most vocal and oblivious to any form of truth whether is about your team or the Riders. I respect the Stamps, enough to know if anyone involved in the Stamps organization knew of his behaviour on here they’d ban him for life not only from McMahon but also from even being a fan! What an embarrassment! For the record, there’s plenty of over the top rider fans but none that makes as regular of an asss of themselves on this site as Red does.

No you are not. Your feeding your troll needs and cravings of someone so removed from reality you still live in your mom’s basement – admittedly. You are 40 something, unemployed, do nothing thinking that because others comments on your stupidity you have a friend. You don’t. No one likes you on this site, not even other chokepeder fans. So really, are you just giving an opinion or looking for something to grasp so you when you look in a mirror you don’t see the loser we do.

This is the most hilarious part.
1. Yesterday, Riders announce that Collaaros will get the start. ‘Someone’ took that as PROOF he was destined to be the starter 5 years ago (or whenever they acquired Collaros).
2. Today…Jones SAYS he knew two weeks ago who would get the start, which IS proof, and the same certain ‘someone’ says Jones makes stuff up. I can (sometimes) handle people who think weird but not ones that argue one point one day and the opposite point the other day.

3 Down really needs to get rid of Red once and for all. Everyone remember those 3-4 days we had of peace? That was nice. Now he expects us to go back and research his idiocy and disrespect comments ? Unreal

Not saying I agree with Randle but I get his point. I have been a Lion fan spanning 6 decades. Will not go into the history/details and justify my feelings, as at least one will probably insist, but the Lions are like a second family to me. If Randle feels that way, I can see his point.

LOL. Do Like Collaros and hope for him personally, at least, he can get his confidence back. I remember back the everyone thought Trav, Drew Tate and Zac would be the stars of the future.

Honestly, I am more worried about my team. That’s what I was a trying to explain to Arse51, I am a BC Lion fan and get as much info on them as I can, even during the off-season. Living in Edmonton now, it is harder in some ways but everyday, even if for about 30 seconds during the quiet times of the off-season. I go onto our web-site, the CFL site, TSN.ca, Our Sports Central and then I found this site for news. I do not pretend to be an expert on every team and every single player in the league. Sure, you hear about some players on other teams a lot but usually there is SOME connection to your team i.e. Biggie this year. Some people ruin the comments section of the site (even another Lions fan unfortunately). Others are fun to chat with like yourself and a few others.

I worry about how my team does. If they do well, it does not matter who your team or any other team starts. The bottom line is that we have to go out there and execute regardless of who is lined up across from you. You do that and you can win. You don’t do that and you will probably lose.

Well sir, pre season over, and now the teams play who they pay. Friday is going to tell a lot for my Riders. Am I nervous – hell yes. But I hope they bring it, and Jefferson/Hughes put the fear of God into a few QB’s.

And although I’m a Rider fan, I love our game in general. Looking forward to all games this weekend starting with the Esks and Bombers Thursday.

Imporant thing is Bridge and Collaros along with the team know the plan and who is starting. Some people think there is only one logical way because that’s how it is suppose to be done, lol.
“Duh, that’s how my teams doing it. Uh, that’s how they did it. Jones is not allowed to do this. It’s wrong. He’s cazy. This is the most insane, uh, uh, thing I have seen. Why is he doing this? Why? OMG! He should not be allowed to do such a horrific, life altering, planet changing method! Global warming is Chris Jones fault! SOB!”
That’s what you all sound like.

If all things were exactly the same and equal, I would not call this innovative if Calgary was doing it.
You guys make this stranger by the minute and just don’t get it.
Were not talking about choosing between Jeff Garcia and Dave Dickensen or Kent Austin and Tom Burgess or Steve Young and Joe Montana. We are talking about a still unproven and highly questionable Brandon Bridge and a guy who hasn’t played a good game since 2015 and has a history of injuries.
Guys, Collaros went out there, played a fair amount of time and probably looked worse then any other QB to play a preseason game this year! You guys seem to the this decision is ” A good problem to have” for Jones because both these guys are doing so well- clearly not. And what’s up with Bridge? Dude played like 3 series the entire preseason. Even established stars like BLM and Mike Reilly play preseason than that.
I’m sorry guys, its hard, but if you look at this rationally things really don’t look good at this time for the riders QB situation.

You don’t get it. You whine and complain in every move the Riders make and don’t make. A starter has been named, don’t you listen? Just because the world doesn’t know doesn’t mean it’s wrong. This procedure has been done many times by many teams. Many fans don’t care who starts, wins is what matters. Do we need to tell the world our rotations thought the lineup? I’ve seen veteran QB’s have a tough preseason game and have a great season. It’s a joke people put thier faith in preseason. You think you have Bridge pegged after a couple of series. Reality is you wait a few games to judge fairly. Sure there is concerned after that game for Collaros, however it’s way too early to be concerned.
Thing at this moment look fine for out QB situation. Meas squat. Look at Nick Foles. Everyone said Philly was done. He had some horrendous games in the past, came in, and beat that biotch Brady. Glenn threw 3 picks in Toronto early and we still almost won. Bridge come in, started very slow and did good enough to almost win. He is better now.
I’ll reiterate, you don’t get it and should know better as a football fan. Way to early to panic. You go ahead and panic, you seem to be.

The last time there was any doubt about a QB decision in Calgary was during the expansion draft. This kind of bush-league meta-gaming only works for teams that have no established starter. So no, it would be a pathetic joke here, too.

Yup.
I’ve given you opportunity to meet me so you can get an idea of who I am. You choose to chicken out and continue this narrative that I’m some ogre living in his Mom’s basement. I’m afraid you no longer have credibility in this claim. The more you say it the more you remind everyone how much this is true.

Chris Jones should have looked back at Collaros time with the Ticats. Collaros is a slow starter and even slower when he does not get enough playing time in the pre season. It was torture to sit through the Ticats opening game last season in Toronto. Terrence Toliver sustained a season ending injury on one of the first plays of the game and this threw Collaros off. Later in this very game, Collaros has a temper tantrum leaving the field and started yelling at Coach Austin as he left the field. If I was a Sasakatchewan Fan, I would not expect much of Collaros in this game.

Jesus. One look at the comments in here, you’d think the CFL has finally tapped into the youth market. Hard to believe that these comments are actually being written by adults. You’d think fans of such a “manly” game wouldn’t be so quick to get their panties in a knot over comments on a blog. Pa-fokken-thetic.

What pay cut? He’s not going to lose his job. Guess you just had to get something in didn’t you? Tell me again why you comment and respond to everything Riders? You just look foolish and childish time and time again.

Area51: I laughed at that J truck stop joke. Haha well played. That said, I’m sure that’s where SunShine goes and gives truckers head all the time.

Chris Jones has his #1 and #2 QB. If anyone has figured that out including the media. Than football shouldn’t be your thing. Jones has used the compition line to keep the wolves at bay. You don’t pay 1 guy $400K and the other guy $150K if they are equal on the field of play.
To the Stamps fan who ruins every Rider article and makes it about him. You need help, seriously, I am not joking or trying to be rude. You seriously need to see a phycologist. I could name a few brain related disorders but I’m sure it would be flagged. I can tell you from seeing others go through similar mental health disorders. It’s only going to get worse.

What pay cut? The pay cut that Jones will have to take in 2019 when coaches and management salaries are capped. Try to keep up. He has already admitted that all the coaches and football personnel will have to take a pay cut.
“He’s not going to lose his job”. He will eventually if this rebuild takes much longer. Every coach loses their job if they don’t produce results. It is a “What have you done for me lately” job. With questionable quarterbacks, an O line that is performing dreadfully and major concerns about Canadian talent, Jones needs some positive results going into his third year or he certainly could be on the bubble. He wears all the hats so it is time to stop talking rebuild and have a team that fights for first place.

What the simpleton from Alberta dosent realize is that Jones holds the same amount of titles as Dave Dickerson and Huffnagel. Would you like to bet that those 2 make more than Jones. How about Poppand Trestman at 1.2 Million. Double plus $200K more than Jones makes. So wake up Dufus and get with the real world. Your stupidity and ignorance is making this site unbearable at times.

Jones has never built a championship team, Huff has.
Huff and Dickenson’s contract situation is of little concern to you, but you can rest assured that CSEC will find ways to compensate both to a reasonable level. I’m OK with that, because the riders are the only reason the league is having to but in a coaches cap in the first place. Dave D will be with the Stampeders for the next 20-30 years, eventually taking over for Huff as GM.

You have no idea that’s what Trestmans and Popp are making. That is speculation. MLSE is a private company and are not obligated to give you that info. This is just a false narrative started by ridernaton

Shithead from AB who goes by many names, none of which show any intelligence or aptitude for anything other than being a troll of the worst kind. Simpleton is a compliment in this case. I don’t think there are many words to describe how pathetic they truly are.

When Jones signed, it was reported that he was making $750,000. He also has two assistant GMs. Not sure what Murphy does but O’Day’s name has been associated with many transactions and tasks.
Trestman and Popp executed a rebuild in a matter of months, not years. They took a 3 and 15 team to Grey Cup Champs in one season. Those are excellent results without a three or four year rebuild. They will also have to take a pay cut, as Dickenson and Huffnagel likely will too. Those two teams with seperate head coach and GM seem to be having better results.

I agree it seems obvious, but then I look at our list of cuts this week and I tend to believe Jones when he says it’s a competition. Hold onto your seats, because if things don’t shine out of the gate I expect you will see a slightly platoon situation. Actually I believe Jones will be much like last year and keep Ds guessing by switching QBs and sending in different packages. Last year most of it was done out of necessity, but I think we will still see plenty by design now.

Last year, Jones attempted to keep Defenses guessing all week, yet whatever QB he eventually decided to go with, ended up being pulled due to ineffectiveness more times than not! Jones is not making his decisions form a position of strength. He’s making it from a position of weakness.

I know. I just can’t believe someone can be so asinine. I am beginning to think they are actually employed by 3D to drive readership and comments. However, Mrs Inconsequential who blows sunshine out their backside, has ruined it for many, who leave because of the perpetual pathetic stupidity.

And I can’t believe how you two, and a few others, talk very little football and mostly gripe about Red. Are you really that aggravated become someone hates the Rders? Get over it; that is anyone’s right. That is one of the things that make sports interesting. I think as many people leave this site because of the constant complaining about Red and the vulgar insults to him as leave because of Red himself.

You are wrong. Why we fight the Red Dork is because he is constantly insulting and degrading the Riders, Regina and Sask as entities, regardless of football. So take your comment and visit Red and put it where the sun don’t shine.

You just made my point. I often don’t agree with Red but he has never told me to stick anything, anywhere. Some of you that dislike Red have told me that on a regular basis and called me innumerable names. He insults public figures like Jones and Carter and large groups like Rider fans but you guys get personal and vulgar with individual posters who you know nothing about.

Well when you take this as long, often and much as Rider fans, then you may understand. This isn’t new lou, this has been happening for years. So ya, I get personal, touchy and defensive. You would too if you wore my shoes. But you don’t, so you can’t possibly understand what is like to be attacked on a forum such as this because I come from Saskatchewan. I will continue to defend, throw barbs, insult, and what ever it takes to defend myself from the shallow minds of the haters. Move along if you don’t like it, but don’t feed the need.

Collaros is probably still the highest paid quarterback, so he gets the start in the opener. Fine, but why pretend that it’s undecided?
The whole “We don’t want the opposition to get the information” is silly. They know it will be Collaros.

Another thing in football that’s dumb is the way that coaches hold those play cards (or whatever they are) in front of their mouths when talking to the other coaches or GM in the pressbox.
I suppose it’s in case the other teams have lip readers. What nonsense!
Even more ludicrous is the way they even do this in PRESEASON GAMES!!
C’mon guy!! It’s preseason. Why would they try and read lips in a meaningless exhibition game? Geez!

We have two QB’s with completely different styles, of which defenses need to adjust. So why would we say who and give the opponent more opportunity to game plan. This way, they have to plan for both. Make perfect sense to sensible people.